i just wanted to say how much i am enjoying being here. although there are a lot of threads and posts which i do not agree with, or am not comfortable with, on the whole, i find this an extremely enjoyable forum, with lively debate and good humour.

its sad that there are some here who cannot be pleasant, but on the whole its terrific. it is nice to have somewhere to debate issuess like these.

my only gripe would be that i dont understand a lot of what is said here, because of the laws and statutes quoted - me being a limey and all that! but on the whole, there are people here who seem to be VERY genuine in their feelings, and with a real passion and commitment to what they write about.

Thanks for the positive feedback! So often we only hear from people with problems and it is nice to know that others are enjoying themselves. As for the US-focus of a lot of the policy discussions here, I'm guilty as anyone else. I admit almost complete ignorance to a lot of the conservation laws that exist in other countries, other than what I read about in the media (I read a lot of media, but most of it seems to be US-focused).

Do you have any suggestions on any good daily international news sources that I should make a habit of reading? I could probably use to expand my understanding of the issues I care about in other places. I probably am more interested in environmental/conservation topics than animal welfare/rights topics.

As long as it doesn't get out of hand and stays on the topic of good sources for international news, this could be an appropriate conversation to have here.

I like this place too. I just disagree with so many people here also...

To be honest, I do too... I find that sometimes you can learn the most from people you disagree with (sometimes what you learn is that you believe even more in what you did before!).

-josh

ps- Happy New Year!

I am happy to oblige you Josh. We differ on so many things but I think we agree on quite a few to. I know that both of us want animal species to thrive and our planet to become more balanced and healthy then the way it is now. I also believe that nature has added some cruel twists of her own in the past (ice age) which are all part of the healing process. Despite the rhetoric here ,I don't think any of us are really monsters for what actions we take.